President Donald Trump says a site near Brazil's Atlantic coast is the "ideal launch location" for U.S. rocket companies, reports CNBC.
Trump made the comments after signing a deal with Brazil's new right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro that allows the U.S. to use Brazil's Alcantara Aerospace Launch base for its satellites.
"After 20 years of talks we are finalizing a technology safeguards agreement to allow U.S. companies to conduct space launches from Brazil," Trump said at a press conference with Bolsonaro. "Because of the location, tremendous amounts of money would be saved."
Air Force officers told Reuters that launches from Brazil burn 30 percent less fuel and rockets can carry larger payloads because of the country's location close to the equator.
Brazil is hoping to get a piece of the $300 billion-a-year space launch business by drawing U.S. companies interested in launching small satellites at a lower cost from the Alcantara base run by the Brazilian Air Force on the South American country's north coast.
The deal with the U.S. still needs to be approved by the Brazilian Congress.
The Alcantara site has already drawn interest from U.S. space companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Vector and Microcosm, but is not ready for rocket launches yet.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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